


You (leaf)Blew Me Away

by carmillahey



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: 7 Days of Carmilla, Alternate Universe - Human, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-14
Updated: 2016-06-14
Packaged: 2018-07-15 00:17:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7197434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carmillahey/pseuds/carmillahey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carmilla is out to steal something, and it's not just Laura's heart. probably.</p>
<p>day one of 7 for the carmilla challenge.</p>
<p>prompt: leaf blowers</p>
            </blockquote>





	You (leaf)Blew Me Away

**Author's Note:**

> um... this is the first time in a long time that I've actually written something. I worked very hard but it might still be shitty and full of mistakes and I might have gotten a bit,.., carried away. regardless, hope you enjoy!! 
> 
> ....im an idiot tbh what is this idEA

Laura shifts in her seat as the episode on her computer screen begins rolling the end credits, preparing to autoplay the next episode, and reaches for another cookie. The corners of her mouth are stained with bits of chocolate, her crumpled day old pajama shirt peppered with cookie crumbs, but she couldn't really find it in herself to care about hygiene at the moment.

Summer would be over soon and college classes would be starting, her first ever year as a student in anything above high school level. The looming weight of increased responsibility and more challenging academic work threatened to crush down on her shoulders, but she brushes it off as best she can with each passing Bob’s Burgers episode that she binges. She has been trying to stay relaxed and holds on to the measly amount of freedom she has before she is thrown into another, more daunting realm of life.

Her break had been satisfactory at most. She spent most of her days doing what she was currently: binge watching television shows and eating her life away with copious packages of cookies. Which was fine, but Mr. Hollis minded a bit. Her health is just as important as school work and he wishes she would eat a vegetable every once and awhile. Her dad couldn't prevent her dietary follies if he wanted to at this age but he still made her do things such as attend family events, the occasional father/daughter outing and showering at least every two days since she gets kind of smelly.

Laura couldn’t help but look back on all her free time every once and a while and wish she had done something more with it. However, time was running out, had run out, and she prefers not to dwell on the mistakes of the past. There’s always something to look forward to, to be excited about, and she is determined to not let anything ruin her spirit.

As she hears the opening jingle and quirky introduction of the next episode, she glances across the room at the clock by her bedside. The number flash back at her, an angry red in contrast to the almost black void of the room, telling her it was long past her bedtime. 

Laura resigns to the fact that she should indeed hit the hay, even if she doesn’t have any big plans in the next 24 hours. (She read somewhere in an official science article that sleep, no matter what time of year it is, is necessary and a healthy thing. They also said she shouldn’t eat the amount of cookies that she does.

Laura doesn’t believe them or, quite frankly, care.)

She raises her arms high up above her head, groaning as the stiffness of her back and shoulders slowly dissipate. She bends over to turn off the device in front of her and navigates in the general direction towards her mattress. 

Before she reaches the comfort of her blankets, soft and welcoming, she decides to make a pitstop at her window to look at the stars. The view from her room, and her town, isn’t the best when it comes to stargazing. She lives in a fairly populated, typical, white suburban neighborhood meaning the lights closer to the inner city often drown out the beauty above them. She wishes for one night, that all of that would disappear, so she could truly see all the night sky had to offer.

She still searches anyway, squinting her eyes and picking out random twinkles of light besides the waning moon. It’s a beautiful sight, no matter how muted. 

Laura takes in as much as she can; a few popular constellations, the ones she learned about in elementary school and the moon’s craters, satellites barely there yet still visible and retracing the path it’s meant to follow in each rotation around earth, and a few dispersed clouds still lingering from the day.

She does this for a bit, leaning against the windowsill, hands on the dusky white wood of the frame and silence taking up the space she’s glad she doesn’t have to fill at this exact moment. It's comforting, she feels, to not have to speak and expand herself if she so pleases. 

Her eyes continue to move, examining all the little details. And pretty soon, her line of sight falls to her backyard.

It’s a medium size, not large enough to have a swimming pool (she had really wanted one growing up but her dad refused, because of the price and concerns about laura drowning or going crazy for excess chlorine inhalation) but not really big enough for a pet to comfortably run free (yet another luxury she was refused in life. Oh, how she had begged for a puppy more than once, even in the most recent months). The space is a bit bland, if she’s being honest. It’s mostly open grass with a few trees and shrubberies towards the back wall to block out the nosey neighbors and a small garden where her father had attempted to grow tomatoes among a few different types of flowers. He often fails to tend to it and Laura tries to do the job when she can. Recently, they'd both been slacking and the flowers look very sad, slumped over and begging to be watered. She’ll probably to that tomorrow. Maybe.

There’s a concrete patio with a small fire pit extending off of it and chairs all around to provide seating when the Hollis family hosts their semi annual get togethers. And on the right side of the yard, there’s an old wood shed, a bit rotten and decrepit that her father insisted they keep. It's usually closed and secure, housing a number of tools and gardening supplies. It had been in the family for a while and her mother had loved it, said it had a lot of character. He couldn’t bare to part with it when she passed, for her sake.

Laura sighs, completely at peace in the serenity of the night. She’s ready to fall into a deep and much needed sleep. However, just as she is about to turn away and forget consciousness all together, something catches her eye.

It’s a shadow, gliding smoothly across the expand of grass outside. She shakes her head, and then rubs her eyes as if to clear away the sleepy hallucination but it doesn’t go away. She squeaks, ducking down as fast as possible. Her first thought is that it’s a ghost, simply haunting her house and was exploring a bit but rationality kicks in, telling her differently.

If what she was seeing is real, that would mean a person, was intruding her house or worse, trying to rob them.

Adrenaline immediately begins to pump through her veins as she watches the figure as discreetly as possible. She can’t really make out any features except long dark hair and an all black outfit. Perfect attire for sneaking around. or debauchery. Laura thinks it’s quite odd that the person is taking their time. As if there is no rush, no doubt of confidence, to carry out a crime.

As time passes, it seems the perpetrator is not motivated to break into their house but their shed. The shed with history, with old walls that tell many stories, with attachment, with power tools. This thought replaces the fear inside Laura with a boiling rage. There’s no way in hell or hogwarts that she would let someone disrupt the balance of her family like this.

She springs into action, or more, crawls away from her crouching spot by the window. With a plan formulating in her head, she grabs her phone to dial emergency services in case everything goes awry and steps out into the hallway. She won’t cry wolf just yet, but she aims to take care of this little problem herself. She is perfectly capable of leaving someone incapacitated thanks to her krav maga skills she’s been building since age 8 (she needs to remember to thank her dad later, it’s really coming in handy now).

Laura continues quietly down the hallway with easy, as to not alert her dad, and descends down the stairs. She takes extra caution to make sure the burglar can’t anticipate her arrival through the patio door leading from the kitchen to outside, which is where Laura is headed herself. She’s not going to bust someone without some sort of weapon and the kitchen seems like a perfect place to find one.

Staying in a crouched position to avoid detection, she rifles through a counter drawer packed full of kitchen utensils. Her hand passes over a safety lighter, barely sharp enough to maim butter knife, rubber spatulas, and more. And after a few moments of hesitation, she choses her father’s prized cheese grater made of stainless steel. It seems lethal and fear-inducing enough. It’s the sharpest thing in the house anyway.

Laura takes a moment to gather her courage up without barrier, she’s going to need every ounce of bravery she can muster. The thought that this may be a bad idea briefly flicks through her head but she discards it almost immediately. This isn’t a big deal and she’s perfectly capable of handling a stupid kid trying to pull a prank or steal some tools.

She tiptoes to the door, clicks the lock open as silently as she can, and pulls the glass back. She can more clearly see the figure now. Their back is facing her and they are unaware of her presence and scrutinous eyes. She pays close attention to their appearance, or what seems to be a woman’s appearance, as she treads closer to the other side of the yard, blades of grass tickling her bare feet. She tells herself it's for the sole purpose of being able to report her to the police when she’s finally put an end to her insidious criminal ways, but she can’t help but notice the stranger has an incredible backside. I mean, it’s a great look, but who the fuck wears tight leather pants to rob somebody’s shed? Obviously this girl.

… anyway.

Laura focuses back on the task at hand. She’s finally a few feet behind the robber but doesn’t really know how to initiate all this foiling of plans. Should she just throw the moves at her, putting her in a headlock? It sounds a little harsh, even for a petty theft-er. Perhaps, startle her with a long speech about morals and sensitivity and considerations? Laura doesn’t know if she could keep her voice steady enough but it’s worth a shot. She’d rather take a less violent approach at first. Communication can do wonders for a relationship and wait. Laura remembers she’s supposed to be angry when she realizes the woman is still trying to pick the lock on the shed. A flush settles on her skin, from the base of her neck to her ears as the emotions flare up within her. With clenched fists and veins popping out, she dives right in without another thought. Time to stop overthinking, get a grip, and be the hero, Hollis.

“Hey!” Laura shouts, her voice solid and projecting strength, momentarily forgetting that she’s trying to be discreet about the situation. She adjusts her tone to be much more hushed, but just as intense. “What the hell are you doing!”

The woman’s hands falter for a moment, her back tense as she was clearly startled by the presence of the brunette and for getting caught in the act of… whatever it was that was happening here. Laura smirks a bit, she had wanted that effect. But then, she keeps fiddling with the lock, not even bothering to be remorseful, and it’s Laura’s turn to falter.

“What does it look like I’m doing,” she scoffs in return, still attempting to pry the door open, “I’m breaking into your shed.”

The nonchalance and general apathy was ticking her off. That's definitely not the response she had expected for someone who had been caught committing a crime. What's with this girl, seriously?

“Are you kidding me right now?” Laura seethes, reaching out to claw at her forearm and pull her away from the shed. She doesn’t get very far though because the other girl is already countering her advance with steady and equally as strong hand on her wrist to stop any further movement. Her lock picking tool fall to the ground with a dull thud, as does her cheese grater defense, and the girl groans.

Laura gawks for a moment as the air around them become tense. She wasn’t prepared to go up against someone the same size that knows how to defend, and perhaps play on the offensive in addition to that.

She takes the opportunity to shrug Laura’s loosened grip off of her bicep (which was very firm, she noticed) and turns around.

Laura is infuriated. She knows she is so screwed, and that makes her even more upset. 

In front of her, is possibly the most beautiful woman she has ever laid eyes on. It seems as though Laura was right about the “no qualms, no shame” attitude towards robbery as the girl’s face is mask free, leaving her to be able to see her face’s perfection in all it’s glory. Some defining feature that Laura would love to remark on include an endless amount of wavy hair, a highly defined jawline, sharp nose, and incredibly dark eyes that she wouldn’t mind getting lost in for a while.

She is so busy practically drooling over the woman that she doesn’t pick up on the shock and recognition poorly concealed by a locked jaw and gaze staring back at her.

“Fuck,” she mutters under her breath, pivoting to face the shed again, “I knew I should have picked a different house. I had a feeling this specific one was a mistake.”

Laura can’t keep up, the emotional whiplash is so sudden and confusing. First, she’s angry for being robbed in the safety of her home, then she was starstruck by this stranger’s (fortunately unfortunate) beauty and now, said stranger’s reaction is only adding to the whirlwind of it all.

“What do you mean, you should have picked a different house? Robbery, in general, is illegal and bad!” Laura can’t tell if she’s enraged yet again or intrigued.

“Maybe I like being bad.” She doesn't have to see her face to know there’s a cocky smirk sitting there, just waiting to mock her. And how DARE she ironically flirt with Laura at a time like this.

Laura inhales deeply, ready to rip into the smug asshole in front of her with one of her famous rants, when she gets cut off.

“Save your breath, sweetheart. I didn’t mean to cause,” she pauses, seeming to consider her words or add to the drama of it all, “that much trouble. So I’ll just be on my way.” She brushes past Laura, heading toward the gate on the left side of her house, presumably how she broke in, but she’s right behind, placing a hand on her muscular bicep once more.

“Nuh uh, I’m not done with you yet! You were going to rob me! I can’t let you go without some sort of explanation. I will call the police. Or kick your ass. Maybe both.” Laura tries to sound and look as threatening as possible. When she sees no sign of resistance against her demands (which, weird), she carefully removes her hand from where it had been and backs off a bit.

“I was in the neighborhood, looking for a fun time. I decided to see what goodies you had stashed away in the shed of yourself. That’s it.”

Laura is exasperated, she can’t really argue with that excuse. Considering the way she’s dressed and how she acts, it’s pretty plausible. She seems the type to engage in reckless shenanigans, disregarding the feels of others and the authorities. It makes her feel quite uneasy and she doesn’t want to let the stranger go without some sort of lecture, warning, or even a reassurance that she won’t pull a stunt like this again. Besides, it would be excellent practice for her journalism courses coming up to question her. It’s the right thing to do.

“What’s your name?”

“What’s it to you?” her gaze is wary and a bit disbelieving. Laura stands her ground.

“It’s easier to have a conversation and make a connection if I can address you properly?” Laura stutters a bit mid sentence. Well. there goes that attempt. She doesn’t know why she’s so nervous to gain the approval and trust of the attractive stranger before her and she curses herself for breaking character so easily.

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea, cupcake.” the girl deflects, looking almost.. nervous too? That couldn’t possible be. She’s a hardass, infuriating delinquent with most likely malicious intent.

“Look, I,” Laura clears her throat, trying to piece together her thoughts and not scare her away, “I won’t call the police or even involve them. I just, want know more about you and why you're doing this.” She’s met with silence and stares at the grass, singling out blades between her toes to push down the embarrassment creeping up under her skin.

Laura hears her sigh heavily, before caving in to her request.

“It’s Carmilla.”

Laura smiles a bit, making eye contact again and the stranger, no, Carmilla, seems to relax a bit following her reaction.

“Right, Carmilla. So..” She trails off, making a gesture with her hands in order to help formulate questions. She didn’t exactly prepare any content or hard hitting inquiries before this, “I don’t mean to question your idea of “good time” but, why exactly is breaking into someone’s shed in the middle of the night fun?”

Carmilla just chuckles a bit.

“Wow, cupcake, you’re really going for it. Don’t you think you’re jumping far too soon into the deep and personal stuff?”

“I feel like that's a fair question and a simple way to start. Why is it so personal to you?”

“Again, isn't that a little invasive to my own delicate privacy?” she accentuates the remark with a hand to her chest.

“Do you always answer questions with more questions? Or are you capable of giving straight answers?” Laura quips right back, without missing a beat.

“Life is full of questions and mystery. Gotta keep it that way. And there isn’t a single thing I do that is straight.” Carmilla says with a wink, still as smug as she was 5 minutes ago. Laura trips up for a moment, flustered by the comment about sexuality, but ultimately chooses to ignore it.

“You are unbelievable, you know that?” Laura huffs and Carmilla falls infinitely deeper into her smugness.

“It happens to be one of my most charming qualities.”

“Oh, I’m sure.”

An awkward silence descends upon them as they both stare at each other. Well, not with direct eye contact. Laura is attempting to read her expression and body language, coming up with more questions and Carmilla is… checking her out? Again, there’s no way. Carmilla would not be interested in good, law abiding citizen like Laura. Yet, the brunette continues to look her up and down, almost pleased. If there’s one thing she’s learned about Carmilla so far, it’s that that stupid smirk is a constant feature. She wishes to whatever god above that it would go away. It’s entirely too distracting.

Laura inhales a few calming deep breaths and starts to take in her surroundings to avoid having to focus on Carmilla’s intense gaze. The summer air is warm, a light breeze caressing her exposed neck and arms. The moon is falling lower in the sky and the stars are disappearing with it. How long had they been out here, bantering and ignoring the actual situation here? She doesn’t know and, maybe doesn’t care. As much as Carmilla annoys her, she can’t help but want to know everything little thing about why she does what she does. It’s probably just her normal curiosity about life coming through. Totally that and not an interest in her.

“Do you always pay this much attention to the night sky, cupcake?” Carmilla breaks the silence and Laura flinches. She was lost again, in the beauty of it all.

“Sometimes.” Laura replies wistfully, still looking intently at the darkness above them, gathering her complex thoughts about the subject. 

“I’m fascinated by the vastness and the possibility. There’s so much out there and I crave to know it all, even though space isn't necessarily the specific subject.” She chances a glance at Carmilla, who appears to be listening, her face finally devoid of that damn smirk. Her face is neutral but she can tell she's listening somehow. 

Usually, Laura would have stopped at this point, consciously choosing to change the topic and deflect. While Carmilla may be trying to hide it, she knows she is interested and it makes her want to continue to elaborate, to ramble her heart out. And she does. 

Laura tells her all about the stars and what they mean to her. She confesses that she doesn’t know much about them, scientifically or mythologically, but it means a lot all the same. She talks about the symbolism, how it relates to her life. She briefly mentions her mom and her mom’s beliefs on the stars as well. How they affected Laura’s views and were passed down to her. And with an equal amount of passion and awe, Carmilla tells her that the stars mean something to her too. Laura is inspired and mesmerized by her story of the stars and is impressed when she can explain what stars are made out of, what the constellations mean, and where they are. 

For a moment, Laura forgets that Carmilla had tried to rob her and all the emotions tied to the moments before. She let Carmilla carry her through history and space, showed her as much as she could of what once was, what is, and what will be. It was a moment that two stranger who had met that very night, probably shouldn’t have been able to share so earnestly. 

She felt like she knew Carmilla, saw her in a new light, and that Carmilla knew her too. She was wrong about her. The world and its people aren’t as black and white as they appear. Laura learned that Carmilla was well spoken, much more thoughtful and caring than she allowed people to be aware of. She’s simply brilliant and beautiful, in her own sarcastic. There is a light inside her, despite the darkness that goes hand in hand with being described as things such as broody and a troublemaker. Laura didn’t think it was possible for someone to hold so much inside themself. She could sense it, feel it, without Carmilla’s walls even being fully broken down. From what she could see, the tiny fragments where Carmilla did let her in, there was something amazing and much bigger than her comprehension. They didn't need to share details of their past through specific words; they could share through the sky, through their feelings, through metaphors and similes and constellations. And regardless of the outcome, when the moment would inevitably end, Laura would always cherish this memory.

Somehow, they had moved from physically standing several feet apart and mentally oceans apart, to still on the ground a few inches of space between them. Together, they leaned back on their hands, swapping stories and jokes as the sky above them dwindled and brightened with each passing moment. The transition itself seemed symbolic of their relationship change, it’s that what you could even call it at this point. From total darkness, at midnight hour filled with shadows on every surface to a place of content, where almost everything can be seen in its transparency. 

With dawn quickly approaching, and the night falling away as it does, both Laura and Carmilla began to recognize, without words, what that meant for them. Neither an end, nor a beginning. Something new, something vast, begging to be explored.

“You never answered my question from before.” Laura jibes softly as the silence had started to fill the space again, a drastic change from the way she felt comfortable addressing Carmilla prior.

“Well, the conversation was going in a different direction. And besides, the silence was speaking enough for itself. Have you any manners, Laura?” She shoots back, head tilted and brow raised.

Laura chuckles at first, but when she registers Carmilla’s response for what it means, her mood sours instantly. 

She stands up, pacing away from the other girl, leaving her dumbfounded where she sits on the dew-covered grass. But not for long, as she shakes out of her stupor and quickly shuffles to follow after the brunette.

“What did I do?” She asks softly, sounding hurt, holding back anger and it’s too much for Laura to handle. She’s confused and hurt as well, Carmilla doesn’t get to do that to her.

In a split second, her body language defaults back to what it was before. She stops pacing and rapidly moves her gaze to stare daggers at Carmilla, eyes ablaze and her body tense. She shouldn’t be this fired up over a name, but she can’t help but wonder what else she has been lied to about.

“I never told you my name,” she spits out through clenched teeth, “how do you know that?” Carmilla has her hands up, flat in a nonthreatening way, to diffuse the situation.

“It’s not what you thin-” She doesn’t even let her finish, the damage has been done. Laura aims and her hand strikes Carmilla directly in her anticipated target zone. She bends over in pain, clutching her now sore throat. Laura could have hit her much harder, but she needed to be able to speak in order to tell her what was actually going on.

“Jesus, cupcake, you pack a punch,” she wheezes from her spot hunched over but Laura is too preoccupied with her rant.

“Are you stalking me or something? Is that why you want to know so much more about me? I can’t believe I thought I could trust someone like you I mean first you break into my backyard and then-”

“Can I speak?” Carmilla interrupts, coughing the scratchiness from her throat and looking Laura directly in the eye.

“I don’t know, can you? After how hard I just chopped your throat?” Laura knows that was a bit low, but she’s beyond pissed. She feels used and wants revenge on this stupid, infuriating, hot, assh-

“I suppose I deserved that one, and I don’t usually ask such an imbecilic and submissive request but please, hear me out,” Carmilla reluctantly pleads and Laura hesitantly allows her to continue.

“I do know who you are but I didn’t expect to you to live at this exact location and,” Carmilla stops, slightly in fear, “you’re not happy with that response, are you?”

“You’re damn right, I’m not.” Laura has no patience, apparently, because she prepares take another swing at her counterpart, a deft kick with full force and no mercy. However, before she can land the hit, Carmilla raises her arms in defense and yells,

“Laf! I know Laf!”

Laura freezes, backtracking immediately with confusion painted all over her face. She heaves out a short, “what?”

“Laf is one of my best friends. They’ve mentioned you before and even showed me pictures. I was going to rob a random house tonight and it happened was yours,” Carmilla breathes a sigh of relief as Laura relaxes again.

“Shit, Carm, I’m so sorry. Oh my god, I hurt you and I shouldn’t have because you were being sweet, even if you did plan to rob me and I just,” Laura’s face is extremely guilty as she rushes over towards Carmilla, reaching out with a hesitant hand.

“Can I take a look at where I hit you?” she steps a little closer, hoping the answer is yes. Carmilla’s eyes are soft as she nods her consent.

Laura closes the distance between them and ignores both the way her heart rate picks up at the fact that she is inches from Carmilla’s face and the way Carmilla’s breath hitches when she places one hand delicately on the back of her neck to steady her head and the other on her pulse point.

She takes her time, thoroughly inspecting the area. She’s not sure if it’s because she wants to stay as close as she can to the brunette or if she’s genuinely worried she hurt her. It’s intoxicating to be this close, actually touching the other girl. She can smell her perfume and feel the softness of her skin under her light touch. She doesn’t want this moment, like the others before, to end.

The process is mostly silent, a little awkward from previous good and bad tensions, but Laura doesn’t want it to be so she speaks up.

“You know, you really scared me. I thought you were some professional burglar coming to steal my garden tools or a stalker crazed about my family.” She glances up at Carmilla every once and a while to gauge her reactions, but mostly holds focus on her neck.

Carmilla doesn’t respond, just hums in content and Laura can feel it from her hands to her toes. She waits a few more seconds, before reluctantly letting go of her hold on Carmilla’s neck.

“It looks like there will be some bruising, you might have trouble breathing for the next couple of days, but you evaded death this time.” Laura swears her sarcasm increases the more time she spends with her.

“Oh, thank god. I was worried that you just might beaten the shit out of me.”

“I could have.” Laura smiles and the corners of Carmilla’s turn up as well.

“But you didn’t. And I accept your apology from earlier.” Ugh, this girl is too smug for her own good. She’s smirking again, but this time, Laura doesn’t wish it away. She’s glad that they’re back on okay terms. She welcomes the smirk as a sign of stable ground.

“Don’t get too smug, I might just change my mind. Pull out all the stops.” Laura says, still remaining in Carmilla personal space. She doesn’t seem bothered, in fact, she is reveling in it.

“Well, if you did, I would be prepared this time and could strike back. I don’t know if you could take me.” Carmilla subtly leans closer towards Laura’s face, which she catches on to in an instant.

“I could take you, alright, but I don’t know if you could keep up with me.” She stands on her tippy toes, hovering alarmingly close to her face without touching any part of her, before she stops abruptly and walks away.

“Is that a challenge?” Carmilla teases.

“Would you accept it, it if was?” She peers back at her, as the other girl is still rooted in her spot.

Carmilla has a glint in her eyes. It’s a quick flash of something, that Laura thinks she recognizes. She knows the answer just as well as Carmilla does.

“Well-”

“Laura?”

Shit.

Both of them stop. Carmilla does nothing. Laura turns toward the patio, to find her dad, bleary eyed and a bit frightened, clutching a baseball bat for dear life. And still in his pajamas, much like Laura.

“Dad.” Laura lets out a cough/chuckle combination.

“Who is this? And why is she here so early in the morning? I woke up to someone yelling and I got extremely worried.” Her dad lowers the bat, but keeps his gaze trained on Carmilla, trying to figure her out.

The two had gotten in such a heated argument that they failed to realize the sun had just began to peek out over the horizon and that they were being far too loud for the time of day.

“This is my- um, friend, Carmilla.” Laura says, playing with her fingers. She looks back to Carmilla, who seems surprised that she decided to lie to her own dad about what actually went down. “She was having an early morning crisis and I couldn’t say no.”

“I see,” Mr. Hollis replies, clearly disbelieving but also relieved to find no danger present. “Well, next time keep it down. I thought something serious was going on.”

“Nope! Nothing serious here. We just got a little too excited talking about stuff, right Carm?” Laura clears her throat, indicating she need her assistance and reassurance.

“Oh yeah, of course. Just gals being pals, yknow, Mr. H?” Carmilla mumbles unconvincingly, head down trying to hide her ever present smirk.

Laura tries to glare, but fails because she’s holding back a big laugh.

“Right. Well, whenever you girls get hungry, there’s pancake mix in the fridge. Help yourself to anything in there,” He says with a sigh, “Nice to meet you, Carmilla.”

“You too, sir.” She barely says in return.

“We’ll be inside in a mo’” Laura calls out to her dad’s retreating figure. Once the screen door is completely closed, she burst with the chuckle she had been holding in for the past minute.

“God, you’re such an ass.” Laura scoffs, hitting Carmilla’s bicep playfully.

“But a hot, smart, sexy ass” Carmilla’s smile is carefree, unrestrained.

“Don't push it.” Laura scowls for a good 5 seconds before her smile breaks through, just as wide as she had been for the past few hours.

“What a kick, huh? Getting caught by your dad?” Carmilla strolls lazily over to where Laura is standing, hands swinging behind her back in a side to side motion.

“Please,” Laura says, eyes rolling, “it’s not like we were doing anything scandalous.”

“You never know, stargazing and sparring can be less innocent than they seem.” Laura doesn’t know how to respond, a blush coating her cheeks. She deflects the question quickly, changing the subject.

“I’ve been dying to know the age old question,” she starts off innocently, facing Carmilla fully now, “why did you really try to break into my shed? And don’t you dare leave a girl hanging here, I've been waiting literally all night.”

Carmilla chuckles, her hand pinching the bridge of her nose.

“The honest answer?”

“As honest as you can be.”

A big sigh escapes her lips, almost identical to the one she let out earlier uttering her name to Laura for the first time those few hours ago.

“You know how Laf is throwing that huge “beginning of the new school year” party this weekend?”

Laura nods enthusiastically, desperate to hear where this is going.

“They wanted to go all out this year. As in weird party games, tons of alcohol, great food, tons of people invited to make it the Ultimate Bash.”

“Yeah, and! Get on with it!” Laura practically yells, excitement getting the best of her. It makes Carmilla chuckle some more, despite the embarrassment of telling this tale.

“Well, I was sorta forced against my will to help out. They had this crazy idea to, I don’t know, build a hovercraft or two for an activity. And it kind of sounds cool, so I wanted to try my hardest to fulfill the request but I didn't have any other way to get the equipment needed.” Carmilla rushes out as quickly as her lungs would let her. But it clearly wasn’t fast enough, because Laura heard every word of it and was currently bent over, laughing her ass off.

“Carm,” Laura chokes out, while wiping tears away from her eyes, “what were you going to steal?”

Carmilla averts her gaze, choosing to find something way more interesting in the grass.

“A leaf blower.”

Laura loses it all over again, her whole body shaking, slapping her knee and gasping for the air she can’t take in. 

And Carmilla doesn’t really care about the embarrassment anymore. Laura’s entire face is lit up, her hair wild as the breeze sways it gently. She’s beautiful and her laugh makes Carmilla’s insides twist, in a good way. She can’t fight the laugh that bubbles up from the contagious nature and sound of Laura’s. She would do anything, even poke fun at herself, if it meant she got to hear that sound over and over again.

And when they’ve finally both calmed down, Laura huffs out,

“You could have just borrowed it from me, you know, instead of going as far as stealing! Ask next time!”

“But where’s the fun in that?”

Carmilla’s smirking again and Laura’s smiling again, just like always.

“C’mon you delinquent,” Laura says, taking hold of her hand lightly and tugging, “let’s go eat some breakfast food and then we can head over to Laf’s and build that damn hovercraft!”

“Anything you say, cupcake.”

“And I call first dibs on riding it!”

“Anything you say.” Carmilla repeats, her smirk much fonder than she's ever remembered it being.


End file.
